Fanfiction World Oneshots
by Shadowlight0982
Summary: Oneshots consisting of various couples voted on in FFW, see the many pairings as they go through their own adventures and possibilities. Read to discover the pairings and how to vote for the next chapter. Rated T but may be changed for future content.
1. Choice-Shipping

** Welcome to one of the many sides that are being added to FFW. These stories are mostly for two reasons: to help me out and for fun since they are one-shots not anything related to the cannon story.**

** The polls for voting are up on the Deviantart page but for those without accounts I will be generous and leave the polls at the end of the story. Now everyone enjoy the oneshots and we will all see if I'm as good at writing romance as I am with action. I hope you all enjoy the stories as this is a little present for supporting FFW for a whole year now ^_^**

**First Chapter is about the pairing of Shadow and Illu (a really popular pairing for a reason). Enjoy and make sure to view the poll below. Now to begin the story.**

**ON WITH THE SHOW...**

**Speech: **"FFW"

**Thought:** _"FFW"_

**Attacks: FFW**

**Transformations/Dark side: "FFW"**

Disclaimer: I do not own anything, I only borrowed it to use for the story. All that I own is FFW and the character Shadow. (Inser other legal garbage here)

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Within Tokyo City business began to go on as usual. With known conflicts such as the Eclipse Tournament over FFW slowing returned to its simple days. Stepping out of the Reception Center Illu greeted the day with a smile on her face.

"It's such a lovely day; it's even beautiful here in FFW." Illu said as she enjoyed the calm breeze that blew through the town making her hair gently sway. In a flash Mukurowl appeared and landed on Illu's shoulder.

"What do you think Muku-Chan, doesn't it feel great out?" She asked the small white bird with a smile. Mukurowl nodded his head and flew about a bit before perching back on her shoulder. Illu let out a small laugh.

"You'll get lazy if you don't spread your wings and fly more Muku-Chan" Illu teased the bird as she walked through the market district. The owl decided to ignore her until he saw something and flew ahead forward with a small hoot.

"Hey Muku-Chan, don't fly off ahead like that!" Illu called to him as she ran passed a few sellers and buyers to keep up with her pet.

Shadow stopped his walking when he heard the sound of wings flapping. He turned slightly and saw Mukurowl landing on his shoulder, he couldn't read the owl's expression but he saw Mukurowl giving him a closed eyed smile. . "Mukurowl, if you're here than…"

"Muku-Chan!" As if on schedule Illu then made it to see where her pet had stopped flying. "Oh Shadow-kun, what brings you here?" She asked the boy used to seeing him mostly at the guild's HQ.

"I'm just walking out for a bit; I'm here looking to see if something interesting catches my eye." He let Mukurowl moved to his fingers and sent him back to Illu. "Plus I there is an order I have to pick up."

"For a client?" Illu asked.

Shadow shook his head negative. "No this one is personal, I'm surprised to see you actually I thought you said you wasn't going to be online today in your message."

"Oh, well…I did have an appointment but it got moved to next week, there's no one around to meet at my house so I decided to get online." Illu explained. "Do we have any missions today?"

"None, it's been a quiet day and everyone else is off on their own different thing." Shadow answered her question. "Key's at some meeting, Naenia dragged DB to god knows where, and Bella and Ravena are planning a prank war in the town east of here." He listed all the reasons the others weren't present. "I figured this would be a solo day for me."

"Oh well if you want I could…" Illu started to speak quietly but stopped when Shadow cut her off.

"You know I have to go collect my order now, you want to go with me for a bit?" Shadow asked her.

"Huh, just you and me?" Illu asked with a light blush. Mukurowl made no movement when she didn't count him but continued to watch.

"Sure unless you have something to do too." Shadow said nonchalantly.

"Ugh no, I mean" Illu stuttered as she became flustered. "Sure I'll go with you."

"All right, it's a date then" Shadow said as he began walking out of the district.

"Date?!" Illu asked blushing in place. Shadow stopped and turned back to Illu. "Come on, we may have time but the place we have to meet the delivery guy soon to get my order." He called to her.

"Hai" She said snapping out of her stupor. "Where are we going?"

"Just the residential part Tokyo City" Shadow explained as they walked out the market and where more buildings and malls began to pop up.

"Really is what you ordered expensive?" Illu asked.

"Yeah, it's a collector's item and its worth a lot but I want it." Shadow looked at one of the clocks that were displayed along the buildings. "We have about two hours until we need to go to the meeting place" He then looked and found a familiar restaurant. "Why don't we chat and eat first?"

"I'm not really that…" A soft rumble filled the air causing Illu to blush in embarrassment. "Ok maybe we can sit down for a while." Mukurowl just continued looking at his owner with a confused look.

"Maybe you didn't get the chance to eat before you dived in, come on we'll have a bowl of ramen on me." Shadow pointed to the Ichiraku Ramen Restaurant that rest across the street.

"I can pay for my own bowl; I don't want you wasting munny when you need to save it to buy your item." Illu said still blushing.

"I have enough to waste and I dragged you on this adventure so the least I can do is pay for lunch." Shadow waved off her worry as they both walked into the restaurant.

'This is almost like a date, me and Shadow-kun' Illu thought as her cheeks still had a rosy color to them. She was brought out of their thoughts when Shadow stopped as a waitress walked towards the duo.

"Welcome to Ichiraku Ramen, where would you and your date like to…" The Waitress greeted them and then spotted Mukurowl.

"Is there a problem Miss?" Illu asked wondering why she was looking at her, or more specifically Mukurowl.

"I'm sorry but we can't allow pets in the restaurant, we had small trouble with a litter of beast manjus that took a while to clean up." The Waitress explained. "Can you trust your pet outside, or maybe send him to your realm?"

"Muku-Chan" She looked to her pet in worry, true Illu was hungry but she didn't want to leave Mukurowl on his own. Before she made a decision Shadow walked a bit closer to the Waitress.

"I know you may have had a problem but can you wave this once, or at least give us a window seat with an open window." Shadow tried to negotiate.

"I don't know, I really can't allow it." The Waitress said. To her surprise a menu popped before her showing her an amount of munny, she looked to Shadow who still looked calm.

"See if we can get a window seat and you can keep the change, anything happens I'll pay for it myself." Shadow said as he waited for the Waitress's response. Illu looked to him in gratitude that she didn't have to decide.

"I'll go talk to the manager, give me a moment" She bowed to them before leaving to confirm the table. Illu chose this time to talk to Shadow.

"You didn't have to do that; Muku-Chan could have used the time to exercise his wings." She said though she was still thankful to him. Mukurowl let out a hoot of thanks that he didn't have to go from Illu, even for a moment.

"It's no problem, I would hate to have him hungry after we sit down and ate some ramen without him." Shadow simply said. "You don't have to pay me back for the tip either."

Illu shook her head at the last response. "No you've done so much, I can at least pay you back because this is my fault to begin with."

"It's your munny" Shadow said just as the waitress appeared.

"We can get you a booth at the window as long as you promise your pet won't make a ruckus or fly around inside, Manager's rules." The woman said as to the two.

Shadow nodded while Illu gave her a small bow of thanks. The waitress then led them to their seats and took their orders while Mukurowl fly and landed on a perch outside of the open window.

"I'm a little envious; we have to sit in here while he enjoys food and a nice breeze." Shadow joked as he sat back in his booth. Illu laughed a bit before looking around the restaurant.

"So you eat ramen a lot?" Illu asked curiously. Shadow took a hand a made a so-so gesture. "Not all the time but it's a personal favorite, it's something I enjoy eating but don't like making."

"What do you mean?" Illu said confused.

"Making it from scratch is a bit of a pain and any premade noodles I buy usually end up in pasta that I make, also I already have enough instant ramen back in reality." Shadow explained as they waited for their meals.

Illu giggled a bit, "I don't suppose this order happens to be a special type of ramen?"

"You'll see when we get their" Shadow answered. "Since we've talked about me, tell me about yourself Illu."

"What do you want to know?" Illu asked. Soon the waitress back with the drinks they had ordered with their meal, Illu thanked her as she began to drink her tea.

"Like where are you from, from the honorifics and manners I say somewhere in Japan." Shadow asked and saw Illu nod her head.

"Hai, I mean I am from Japan, Kyoto actually, sometimes I play on their Server but I have more fun on the United Server." Illu explained.

"Some things you can't do when you're just confined to one country, I've only been to the Japanese Server twice in my whole time playing." Shadow drank his tea.

"You've been to Kyoto?" Illu asked curiously.

"No I server-hopped, it cost me a bit to go there and back since my location isn't registered in Japan." Shadow explained. "Not to mention the paperwork sucks as well."

"They wouldn't make it easy to go to other countries' servers; otherwise some kind of international interest might spark from it." Illu said.

"The last thing we need is a terrorist attack starting from FFW." Their food arrived and Shadow thanked the waitress as she set a beef ramen before him. A bowl of miso ramen was before Ill and she pulled a fishcake out and fed it to Mukurowl who hooted happily.

They ate in silence for a bit until Illu noticed the way Shadow rolled the food with his chopsticks and laughed. "That's not really how the chopsticks work Shadow-Kun." The laughing girl said.

"This is how I learned to use them and there aren't really a lot of people I know that can teach me." Shadow rebutted but Illu stilled continued to laugh. It was funny to her that one of the strongest players she knew had little to know experience with chopsticks.

"You have to hold it like this" Illu tried to explain.

"Like this?" Shadow tried to mimic her wrist.

"No more like this" Illu reached across the table and used her hand to correct it, when she soon noticed how close they were to holding hands she took it back with a blush after Shadow held the chopsticks correctly.

"Thanks Illu-Chan" He then went back to eating already seeing how easier it was to eat the noodles.

"Illu-Chan" Illu asked when she heard the honorific.

"You added one to my name so I added one to yours, besides think of this as our little secret." Shadow said as he ate an egg from the bowl.

"Ok" Illu said as she ate from her bowl. Mukurowl sat on his perch feeding off of the pieces of the food that Illu would offer to him. Soon the three were done with their meal and Shadow left the munny on the table as they sat up.

"Shadow-kun I thought you would let me pay for my bowl" Illu said.

"Like I said don't worry about it, I still have enough to spare and I don't exactly carry all my money on me at one time." Shadow said as they walked out of the restaurant. Illu wanted to say something but knew it was pointless when Shadow put his mind to something.

'He doesn't admit it but he's almost as stubborn as Bella-Chan' Illu then smiled. "Arigatou Shadow-Kun"

"No need to thank me…besides aren't guys supposed to pay for everything on their dates?" Shadow teased the Owl hybrid.

"What date?!" Illu said as she went from pink to red in an instant. Shadow laughed and then noticed the time. He noticed they were almost late so he grabbed her hand causing Illu to blush more.

"Sorry looks like we lost track of time, I'm going to speed this up." Shadow said as he began to concentrate.

"We're going to Shadow-step?" Illu asked.

"No I can't cross that much distance but we can quickly fly there." Shadow said as he was outlined with a dark aura which also covered Illu.

"Then Muku-Chan can quickly fly…" Illu then felt stranged as she felt the aura around her.

**Gravity Zero**

After the call of the attack the confused girl began to float into the sky, Illu scrambled in surprised and held her skirt to avoid it floating along with her. "What is happening?"

"In my rush I forgot Mukurowl could fly but this will get us their just as fast." Shadow said as he also floated but he was calmer than the flustered girl. Still holding her hand he began to flay forward as they travelled through the sky.

Illu went from floating to flying as she gripped Shadow's hand in fear of falling but soon she looked from the ground to around the sky and began to enjoy herself. "How are we doing this, I thought you didn't have flying abilities."

"I don't but using gravity and a few small pushes I can fly in zero G." Shadow explained as he flew forward. "This flight won't take long so enjoy it, you're the only person I ever flew like this with."

"The only person" Illu repeated in a whisper. She looked to the focused boy as he concentrated only on flying their destination. 'Maybe I should…'

Mukurowl flew from behind and then caught up with the flying duo, when Illu set her sights to her pet the owl made a small illusion visible to her which caused her to blush. 'Even Muku-Chan is teasing me about this' Illu thought. 'The only one who doesn't tease me is Squal-niisan and that's only because he's protective of me.'

As she thought of her brothers and the others of Atherion she looked back to Shadow. 'I love my brothers and they all take care of me; but Shadow-kun treats me more like a fellow player instead of someone who is fragile.' Illu then got a downcasted look. 'Then again he doesn't know about my condition.'

As if he could sense her mood Shadow stopped flying and just floated with a confused Illu. "Why do you look so sad?"

"Sad I'm not" Illu tried to explain.

"Ok, but do me a favor and look around." Shadow said. Illu did what he said and then looked astonished at the sight before them. Some of the clouds have parted to reveal parts of the sky and the two stared at the "skyscape." Her eyes were wide with surprise as she also saw the sun getting ready to set.

"Sugoi, all this time I flew with Muku-Chan I never saw a sight like this!" Illu said in joy.

"Sometimes you just need to stop and look at the sky" Shadow said to her. "You would be surprised at what you can see, some days when I'm bored all I do is find a spot and look at the sky."

"The sky" Illu repeated. "I should stop and enjoy it more, it's so beautiful."

Shadow nodded in agreement, he then glances at Illu as they stood there in the sky, her long her flowing gently in the small current as she enjoyed the view. He blushed and then looked downwards.

"This is our stop, we land here" Shadow said and they began their descent.

"We're here, and I was just enjoying our date" Illu said not noticing her words until they already left her mouth.

"Glad you enjoy, as much as I like spending time with you we can't keep this guy waiting." Shadow said as he quickened their landing. Both landed gently in an open field where a man in a blue robe stood waiting.

"I was beginning to think you weren't going to show, were you preoccupied?" The robed figure asked as he looked to Illu, though the two players couldn't tell.

"No we were enjoying ourselves and we lost track of time, do you have it?" Shadow asked.

The man nodded and opened his menu to pull out a wrapped box that appeared in his hand. "Here as we said, do you have my payment?"

It was Shadow's turn to nod as he pulled out a large bag of munny. The two proceeded to complete their trade with a curious Illu and Mukurowl watching. The man checked the bag's contents and nodded.

"Everything looks good, although I never took you for a music lover" The man said with a chuckle.

"There is a lot about me that you don't know, now don't you have a place to be?" Shadow asked.

"Of course, you two children enjoy your date" The man then vanished.

"Children?" Illu tilted her head as she knew they both were anything but.

"It was his way of joking leaves it alone" He said as he observed the box. He felt the weight in his hand making sure the contents were what he thought it was.

"He called you a music lover; do you play an instrument?" She asked thinking of a type of instrument that would be as small as to fit in a box.

"I used to, it's more of hobby, I played mostly wind instruments or anything that caught my interest." Shadow answered her.

"Have you tried another type, like violin?" Illu asked again.

Shadow was silent as he thought back to the Eclipse Tournament and Illu's transformation with the violin but shook his head. "No, I did once but I wasn't any good."

"Oh" She said knowing it was hard to master the violin, Illu herself played very well back at home but she wouldn't call herself a prodigy. "What instrument did you buy?"

"I'll give you a hint…little fairy" Shadow then started to walk out the clearing. Illu stood confused before she noticed him walking. "Nani what kind of hint is that, come on tell me."

"It's more fun if you guess" Shadow smirked. Illu sighed before an idea came to mind; she turned to Mukurowl who nodded before his eyes began to glow. Shadow stopped walking when he noticed the small illusion around him.

"Really is this a prank?" He dispelled the illusion only to see a rock in his hand instead of a box. He turned and saw Illu beginning to open the contents. Shadow sighed and dropped the rock. "You seriously can't guess?"

Illu shook her head and then looked surprised as she pulled out the instrument. It was ivory in color and curved in her hands, she traced the small image of what looked like a demon and then felt the holes obviously used for changing the tune. Shadow walked over to her and she handed it over.

"Sorry my curiosity got the better of me." Illu apologized.

Shadow nodded. "That and a bit of your prankster side came out." He said much to her embarrassment. "So what do you think of it?"

"I don't know, I've never seen an ocarina up close before…you said that one is a collectable?" Illu remembered his words.

"Yeah the design is easily replicated but the song built into it isn't, this ocarina has a specific song that comes with it that the player can play." Shadow explained as he eyed the ocarina as he double-checked to see if it was authentic.

"Can you play it?" She asked curious of what the song was. Shadow shrugged and they stopped walking as they found a bench, the two saw they had walked into Tokyo City's park. The two sat down on the bench as Shadow eyed the ocarina.

"All right this once I can play, let's see if I can get the song right." He then stood up to play and turned to his audience. Illu and Mukurowl waited to see what the song was. Shadow brought the instrument to his lips and began to play.

**(Play Tapion's Ocarina)**

A soft melody filled the air as Shadow played the hero's flute. As he continued to play the music got louder as spread more so that others could hear it.

Kids stopped running and playing to see where the music was playing from, older players stopped and listened to the song out of nostalgia. The whole park was silent as they all enjoyed the melody, but none more than Illu as she listened intently to the beautiful tune.

'Beautiful, that song is…' Illu thought as she found herself becoming drowsy from the song. She tried to keep herself awake but the melody swayed her to unconsciousness. After a while Shadow soon stopped playing and opened his eyes and saw the girl sleeping on the bench with Mukurowl next to her.

'This must be what a Jigglypuff feels like' He joked to himself as he looked at the sleeping girl. "My playing was that terrible huh?" He asked but all he got were soft mumurs and a negative from Mukurowl.

"Thanks Muku" Shadow then sat down and looked to Illu. "Sorry about knocking out your owner."

"Shadow…kun" Illu mumbled in her sleep.

"She's dreaming about me?" Shadow wondered. Illu continue to let out a few words though he did manage to catch some of what Illu was saying.

"Get stronger…Shadow-kun…I'll stronger so…I won't be a burden." Illu said in a soft voice. Shadow smiled and pulled her scarf down so that she could breathe better and moved some of her bangs so that he could see her face.

"Baka" Shadow said using the few Japanese words he knew. "Who ever said that you were a burden" He then stood up from his seat. Shadow picked up the sleeping girl and rested her gently on his back and began to carry her in the direction of the guild.

'Everything that happened at the Tournament was my fault…I'm the burden, no I'm a sinking ship and I just dragged you under with me.' Shadow thought and then looked at the sleeping girl's face. 'Get stronger Illu-Chan; so you won't have to wait for a guy like me to help rescue you, and I'll get stronger too…so nothing like that happens again.'

Seeing a spot of green Shadow saw leaves beginning to fall from the trees and move with the wind. The Sunset had turned the sky into vibrant orange before the sky filled with a soft amethyst color.

Shadow chuckled to himself. "All we need are some cherry blossoms, then this would be a classic Japanese Kodak moment."

The black clad player continued walking with the objective of finding Illu something softer to rest on. Mukurowl flew behind them, not wanting to be left behind; the owl gave a vague impression of a smile knowing Illu had enjoyed her time with her 'Shadow-kun.'

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**That's it for this chapter, it is short but it is an oneshot and this would be one of the few times I wrote something like this. Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and I want to thank Ravena Felidae for the artwork. Good bye everyone and be sure to vote the couple for the next chapter.**

**Choice-shipping: The meaning of this name comes from Illu's debut in the main story. The chapter was centered all on Illu's choices and Shadow reminding her at the end that she still has a choice and can always do the right thing.**

**Review and tell me how I did as this is also for me to get better at writing. So please criticize fairly and tell me what I need to work on or add.**

**Now as I promised here is the poll for the next chapter:**

**Past-shipping: ShadowxRose**

**Admin-shipping: CastxLeon**

**Yokai-shipping: GrimxRavena**

**Remember to vote, both here and on the DA page if you can and as always I can't say this enough don't forget to review.**

**-Shadowlight0982 out.**


	2. Yokai-Shipping

** The next chapter is up and I hope you all enjoy; this side project seems to have a few of you interested but in reality this is all for practice and it's to help improve the main story. While I appreciate all the reviews go ahead and advise me if I do something wrong or if I need to add or remove something all advice can be helpful and flames will only keep me warm at night.**

**Reviews:**

**Generalhyna: I think you got cut off at the end, as for other bonds I will see about that later.**

**BloodxForxMyxRose: Ouch an 8, at least you're fair. I'm not really sure I can work something like that in as these are only fluffs but we'll see in later chapters. You can also vote for redoes after a few chapters.**

**Illusionist Owl: Just something I thrown together last minute, the chapter wasn't my first plan but it is good to see that everyone liked it.**

** Now that all of this is done…ON WITH THE SHOW!**

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When you become a Bounty Hunter there are a few things you have to be prepared for. One would be the danger of the assignment; sometimes Hunters are sent out with almost zero information of the target. Another is the amount of time it might take to collect a prize and if you receive good enough payment for the work. However; one key thing a Bounty Hunter had to worry about always…

…Is the target.

"How long have I been chasing this guy for?" Grim asked himself as he pursued his target darting through the many streets and alleys Tokyo City had to offer. The Bounty Hunter's target has shown to be faster than he had anticipated but Grim kept at a decent pace.

"The only thing stopping me from using my bombs would be the people on the streets." True to his word Grim had to jump over a cart to keep speed with the target ignoring the angry words of the vender.

As the reaper ran his shadow grew to life and ran along beside him.

"**And the reason it's taking so long to catch this one?" **Doppelman asked in a bored tone. **"We could be back at the osen now if you weren't slacking off."**

"Who's slacking, besides this guy actually hard to catch no wonder he's known as the Slipstream." Grim argued back.

The now named Slipstream looked back with an arrogant smirk as he saw that Grim had no hope of catching up. "So you're the guy ranked number 1, please you can't even keep up with me…this is only a jogging pace compared to my real speed!"

"**Oh great this one is cocky." **Doppelman dully stated.

"Aren't they all…Doppelman use the shadows to go around and cut him off, I can gain on him faster as long as he's not running a straight line." Grim theorized as with each straightaway the distance between them was increasing.

"**That could work" **Doppelman was about to proceed with the plan until a silly grin formed on the shadow's face. **"On second thought why don't we just wait?"**

"Why?" Grim asked not seeing the point in waiting.

As the two talked Slipstream turned back to see how much distance he put between the bounty hunter and didn't see the object in front of him as it slammed into his neck. Grim and Doppelman stopped looking at the person on the other end of the clothesline move.

"Not that I'm not grateful but what are you doing around this area Rave?" Grim asked as he picked up a dizzy-eyed unconscious Slipstream and proceeded to cuff his arms and legs.

"I was just in the area and saw that you could use some help nya." Ravena smiled. Punnya was on her shoulder sharing her catlike grin. "Why are you chasing this guy?"

"Bounty…have to pay the bills somehow." Grim said as he secured the clay-cuffs. Once he was done he noticed Doppelman was nowhere in sight. Grim turned to Ravena and just stared as he saw Doppelman was fondling Ravena's chest (to her annoyance).

"**I can sense these two beauties from a mile away." **Doppelman said as he continued his groping not seeing the wicked gleam in Ravena and Punnya's eyes.

Punnya's form shifted into a hammer and Ravena took aim and slammed it against the shade's skull.

"**Cat Impact!"**

Grim sweatdropped as he heard Doppelman yelled as he flew into the sky. The twinkle afterwards gave him the idea of how far he traveled. "I think you broke you record this time Kitty."

"If Pervy-Grimmy wasn't so pervy I wouldn't need to send him flying every time nya." Ravena said. Punnya returned her true form floating in the air with her wings.

"Punnya?" The neko manju asked. Ravena followed her question and looked to Grim.

"You need some help taking that guy to the Guards Grimmy?" Ravena asked for herself and Punnya.

"I don't need the help but come with me so that I can split the pay with you." Grim said as he lifted Slipstream onto his shoulders.

"Nya, I didn't help that much you don't have to pay me." Ravena said.

"True but if you didn't show up when you did I would have been chasing him for who knows how long. To be honest running after him was getting bothersome." Grim said.

"Same old lazy Grimmy…sure I'll accept the money on one condition nya." Ravena said.

"And that condition is?"

"You have to spend the whole day with me." Ravena's said to Grim's surprise.

"The whole day, don't you have some guild stuff to take care off?" Grim asked.

Ravena shook her head and so did Punnya. "Tsunde-Rose dragged Shadow-kyun off who knows where, Illu can't come on for the day, Ani-Key is at a meeting, and DB-chan is at a gig somewhere in the real world…"

"And Bella?" Grim asked.

"No clue nya and it would get boring if Punnya and I have nothing to do." Ravena explained.

"Punnya-nya!" The neko pointed a tail to the sky. They all began to slowly here a scream and stepped to the side allowing the shadow to hit the ground hard leaving a small crater.

"What kept you?" Grim asked.

"**I was actually in another planet…it was beautiful and only women." **Tears somehow began to build in his eyes.

"And they kicked you off-world, figured out as much." Grim dragged Doppelman as he carried the target laundry style. "Ok Kitty, I'll spend the day with you."

"That's great nya!" Ravena then grabbed his arm. "Let's go nya!"

"Hold on, I carrying two things at once!"

"DP doesn't weigh anything at all nya!"

"He's still a pain in the ass to drag around!"

"**Hey!"**

* * *

**(FFW-Admin Collection Office)**

* * *

"The transaction is complete, here is your payment." A woman said handing Grim a wrapped bundle of munny.

"Nya, why did you want this guy caught?" Ravena asked. "He wasn't carrying anything."

"Punnya Nya-nya?" Punnya circled around the cuffed man who glared at her.

"He's not carrying anything because he is wearing them." The woman removed Slipstream's shoes. "These are experimental items we were transporting to the scientist here before he stole them two days ago."

"You think he would have skipped town by then nya." Ravena wondered out loud.

"Good thing he didn't, too much work to track down someone out of my locals." Grim took the munny. "Pleasure doing business with you…all right Kitty we're gone."

"Ok, come on Punnya." Ravena called to her pet as they began to leave.

"Punnya!" Punnya began to follow them back into the streets of Tokyo City.

"So Grimmy where to first nya?" Ravena asked curiously.

"My place, I want to make sure I have the munny in a secure place before we do anything." Grim answered.

"Nya, do you do that every time you get paid?" Ravena wondered.

"Every time, you don't know when you'll need some pocket change, besides I don't need to carry all of it with me at once." Grim said.

"Nya, makes sense, I wonder what kind of place a guy like you stays." Ravena smirked.

"It's nothing that glorious if that's what you're thinking I barely spend any of my munny unless I have to." Grim said.

Doppelman chose now to make himself known. **"Our place is Spartan at best with a few things lying around…Grim will hardly by anything cool."**

"Why would I pay to have a pool installed when we get free trips to the osen Doppelman?" Grim asked annoyed.

"**It's a matter of necessity, you have the munny to buy the best things in life but you overlook them!" **Doppelman argued.

"Sounds like Shadow-kyun." Ravena laughed.

"And Shadow probably has the same mentality I do when it comes to munny, even though you all technically live in that base of yours…how does that work when you get more members and run out of room?" Grim asked.

"We go to the Admin and pay to expand, once the building is larger we set up where the rooms and many things will be nya…though we are going to be renovating soon." Ravena said.

"Punnya!" Punnya said happily.

"I don't know how you convinced Shads Punnya but good work." She petted the neko who let out a satisfied purr.

Grim smirked and then stopped once they reached a house. "We're here," he said as he pulled out a key from his cloak and unlocked it."

They all went in and Ravena and Punnya looked around the small house. It was Spartan as it had a few things but it did have the bare essentials. The two then heard a sigh of relief as they saw Grim was now lying on the long couch he kept in the living room.

"Not the place I expected the Grim Reaper to live nya." Ravena sat next to him.

"The Devil May Cry settlements were bought out and I didn't like the feel of living in an ingame apartment so this is nice." Grim said with closed eyes. "It's a nice place to comeback to after long days of travel."

"It is homey nya." Ravena agreed as she laid back. Her bell jingled a bit from the movement and she then felt Felis's presence.

"**You have a weird taste in men DeeDee," **Felis commented from the back of her mind.

'Nya, what do you mean?' Felidae asked not understanding what her other half was talking about.

"**Never mind, you probably wouldn't understand…" **Felis simply said.

Before Ravena could ask another question Grim got her attention by petting her ears causing her to purr in content.

"Thought that would get your attention, I was asking you where you wanted to head first for a couple of minutes now." Grim said. Ravena then saw that Grim's foot was on top of Doppelman's head.

"I don't want to know what he was trying to do but thanks for stopping him." Ravena said.

Grim nodded, "Now since you wanted to spend time with me go ahead and jut choose a place or we can stay here."

"Nya while your place is nice let's go out it's a shame to waste this day." Ravena offered.

"All right" Grim got off his couch and lifted up Doppelman easily. 'Behave yourself.'

'**I would but they just keep calling me…' **Grim sighed knowing that it was hopeless to reason with his shadow.

"Rave do you have anything to keep DP under control for the day?" Grim asked.

"As a matter of fact…" Ravena smiled as she pulled out a tag from Punnya's mouth.

"**The hell are you going to do with that, blow me up!" **Doppelman said in horror while he tried to escape.

"**That's a plan and it would be hilarious to see." **Ravena chose to ignore Felis's suggestion.

"I'm not that cruel nya, but you get to be my guinea pig Pervy-Grimmy."

Doppelman tried to flee but was still being held by Grim, Ravena stuck the tag on his head and the paper and the shade glowed before Doppelman turned into a tiny version of Grim.

"**What kind of tag was that?" **Doppelman asked.

"Interesting, and he's solid too." Grim said poking the now chibi-lookalike.

"**Hey stop that!"**

"A Ravena and Terri-patented Chibi-Tag, give whoever is stuck with the chibi effect." Ravena introduced. "I tried on Hy-Nya's men and on Shadow-kyun but I'm surprised it worked on Perv-Grimmy."

"That's some strong magic," Grim stated.

Ravena smiled and curtsied. "That's what happens when two geniuses put their minds together, now we can go and Pervy-Grimmy can easily be punished now."

"**Don't I get a say?" **Doppelman asked.

"No"

"Ny-ope!"

Ravena turned to Punnya. "You're in charge of the pervert ok Punnya."

"Punnya!" Punnya used her tail to salute, showing that she understood.

"Now that Doppelman has a babysitter we can get going." Grim said.

"That's right nya!" Ravena led the way out with Grim following. The reaper dropped Doppelman to the floor and the little guy was about to say something until he was carried off by Punnya.

* * *

**FFW**

* * *

Ravena led the group to a few different places like a magic store to browse and buy supplies and a few stands selling treats around the Merchant District. They were now sitting on a rooftop bench enjoying the things that they bought.

Ravena took a bite out of her second creampuff of the day. "Nya, nothing gets better than this."

"You sue enjoy sweets, you took us to at least three shops for them." Grim said taking a lick of his ice cream.

"Can't help it, every day is better with sweets!" Ravena tossed a creampuff to Punnya who swallowed it whole Kirby-style. In the corner Doppelman was also enjoying his treat of ice cream.

Grim took another lick before speaking. "Why did you get all those supplies, planning an expedition?"

"Something like that nya," Ravena finished her treat. "You know about Cheshire's Path right?"

"Who doesn't, Rose gets some of her best finds from digging around there." Grim answered.

"It's the best place to find rare stuff, a lot of cool items nya." Ravena explained. "But there's one that I'm interested in getting."

"Really, what's that?" Grim asked.

"Secret" Ravena answered causing the reaper to look dejected. "I'm preparing so that I can get the others to come with me."

"Wouldn't that slow you down having a big group?" Grim asked.

"Sometimes but it's always fun adventuring with friends nya, also I kind of need their help to get what I want this time." Ravena answered.

"Is finding it what you're having trouble with?"

"No, just what's guarding it…the Admin started placing monsters down in underground paths to discourage players and protect the routes."

"But what could possibly give you problems?" Grim wondered.

Ravena pulled the last creampuff from her bag and began to eat it. "Leeches nya."

"A leech?" Grim said questionably. "A bunch of leeches are what's giving you problems?"

"No not leeches, a really BIG leech nya! And it can absorb energy from far away but I can't get near it either." Ravena said sadly. "Magic, Chakra…all of it and he's immune to it."

'Sounds familiar' Grim finished his cone and tossed the remains in the trash nearby. "What if I give you a hand, it will mean paying you back for the Slipstream thing."

"You don't have to Grimmy, and you already paid me back nya." Ravena said.

"No I gave you your cut of the munny for helping me; this will be returning the favor." Grim said. "Besides didn't you say adventuring is more fun with friends?"

Ravena laughed a bit and nodded her head. "Ok have it your way Grimmy nya!" The Nekomata's wings grew larger as she got ready for takeoff.

"What are you…?" Ravena then grabbed Grim's arm.

"We'll get there faster by flying, hang on tight Grimmy!"

Grim yelled in sudden surprise as he was lifted into the air by the catgirl. Doppelman was laughing at his predicament until he too was lifted high off the building by Punnya. The former shadow began to freak out flapping his arms irritating the neko manju.

Grim looked down a bit as they flew. "If you could have warned me I could have made some thing from my clay to fly on." He insisted.

"That's a waste, plus you need to save it for when we get there." Ravena said.

Grim sighed but agreed with her reasoning; he looked around as they flew. "You know this is one of the first times I've seen you use those wings, I thought they were for decoration."

"As if nya, a flying cat can do more than one trapped on the ground!" Ravena said.

"You've been doing all right so far." Grim joked; he soon went from enjoying the bird's eye view to looking at something else. Ravena soon noticed Grim's eyes were on her.

"Nya, what's up Grimmy?"

The question shook him out of his silence. "It's nothing," He said while using the collar of his cloak help hide the pink that appeared on his face.

"**I can tell you what it is!"**

"Punnya you can drop him…he's live, probably."

"Punnya!" The neko let go of the transformed shadow.

"**Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" **Doppelman screamed as he fell through the sky. Punnya then did a quick nosedive and caught him inches off the ground.

"Pun-nya!" She meowed appearing to laugh.

"**That wasn't funny!"**

Ravena and Grim soon landed next to him as they were all next to a sealed hole leading to underground.

"We're here; this will get us there the fastest." Ravena said as she lifted the cover of the hole.

Grim nodded and looked to Doppelman. "Any chance you can change him back, he will be needed if we want a fighting chance."

"Of course" A snap of her fingers and Doppelman returned to his true form.

"**I'm free!" **Doppelman then looked down the hole. **"Underground, are you crazy?!"**

"There's enough light in there so why are you complaining?" Grim said.

"**You're not the one who has to worry about fading out of existence when all light goes out!" **Doppelman yelled back.

"Fine, I have some flares just in case but we're going." Grim pulled out his sightscope and attached it to his eye. "Lead the way Kitty."

"Right!" Ravena and Punnya went down first followed by the Reaper and shadow.

**FFW-Cheshire's Path**

"I've only been down here a few times but this place still looks confusing." Grim said talking about the many twists and turns of the underground dungeon.

"Then it's a good thing you're with me nya!" Ravena continued to walk. "We're almost there."

Grim nodded as they walked along and he kept an eye on things with his sightscope. Thanks to Ravena's knowledge of the paths they soon found themselves pressed against a wall hearing the sound of something…eating.

"I think we caught it between feedings nya" Ravena said.

Grim took a small peek and saw the creature. The Leech was definitely big as it towered the room almost reaching the ceiling, it also had rows of teeth within its mouth as the Reaper found out as they showed it devoured its meal.

"The other monster must have stumbled in here, what would a leech be doing underground they belong in water areas." Grim said.

"I know, this can't be something the Admin would do nya." Ravena looked past it and saw the goal. She pointed not wanting to gain too much attention by yelling.

Grim followed her hand and saw she was pointing to something resting on a pedestal near the beast. He couldn't make out what it was so he used his sightscope to get a closer look.

"That can't be what I think it is can it?" Grim asked.

The nekomata nodded her head. "Yep, that's what we came here for nya…a dreamstone."

Grim now knew this was a serious mission; dreamstones were one of the rarest items of the game as they had the ability to become anything. Ever since FFW's launch they had become more and more scarce and they only spawn once a year.

"So what now, I distract it and you go for the stone?" Grim asked.

"Nya, I can't leave you to fight that by yourself." Ravena said.

"You said so yourself there is almost nothing you can do to hurt it; I'll go grab its attention and you go for the stone." Before Ravena could argue the plan Grim had already shot forward into the room.

The Leech continued eating until a wave of pain surged through its body as a large jagged gash appeared on its side causing fluid and data to spill. Grim had landed by it with his legs already transformed to their chainsaw form.

"Hey, try fighting against something that can fight back!" Grim yelled hoping to further gain its attention.

The Leech stopped squirming in pain and began to glow; as it did the wound that Grim inflicted began to shrink.

"This just got more troublesome." Grim said.

"**You want me to jump in yet?" **Doppelman asked.

"Not yet, let me test this thing more." The chain saw blades roared to life and left slashes on the ground as Grim braced himself.

The Leech stared at him with its giant maw and roared a morbid screech as it slithered over to him.

**(Play: Break by Three Days Grace)**

Grim jumped back as the Leech slammed itself on the spot he just stood. He flipped midair and landed on his hands and began to spin his legs, both chainsaw blades shined a white color.

"**Saw Foot First Gear: Vortex of Carnage!"**

As he continued spinning more and more cuts appeared on the leech tearing it to shreds, the monster shrieked again as more fluids poured out. The Leech reared back and fired some of its fluids out its mouth and at Grim who backed away.

Grim saw the melting stone and smelt the familiar odor of acid as he saw the Leech began to heal itself again.

"Oh no you don't!" Both hands went into his pouch and he sent several clay swallows towards it. Grim didn't here Ravena's warning until it was too late.

Instead of dodging or avoiding the clay whatsoever the Leech just opened its mouth and swallowed them whole. Grim waited for the sound of clay detonating but it never came. He then remembered Ravena's words.

'They may be bombs but they are still powered by my chakra…dammit!" Grim yelled. He then had to run again as the beat fully healed and now switched from physically attacking to shooting and spraying acid.

Ravena stopped moving watching Grim fight wanting to help him. Before she could turn away from the goal someone reminded her of their plan.

"**Are you going to make what he did in vain, grab the stone before it notices you!" **Felis yelled.

'I can't just leave him to fight on his own!' Felidae thought back.

"Punnya!"

"Punnya?" Ravena looked at the manju. Punnya then began to give her an idea.

Back to Grim he was still avoided the drops of acid as they fired all over the dungeon. He tried to think of a plan to either kill or incapacitate the Leech.

"**Maybe we can summon the Golem?"** Doppelman suggested.

'That thing isn't giving me time to breathe much less summon!' Grim thought back.

"**Maybe we could…WATCH OUT!"**

Grim dodged the acid but suddenly the Leech stretched its body and slammed it against him. Grim rolled and tumbled along the ground while the Leech slowly pursued. As the Leech reached to bite down on the two a swirling pink beam of light hit it beginning to spiral though it; Grim followed the beam and saw it was coming from Ravena.

"Run Grimmy!" Ravena yelled as she kept the Punnya Cannon alive. Grim ran over to her watching as the beast changed to absorbing the blast through its mouth.

"Monsters like these have a limit; it can't absorb too much energy without consequences!" Grim said.

"It's still taking a lot nya! While I'm firing I can't move!" Ravena said.

"We have to overload it," Grim looked to the transformed Punnya. "Can anyone feed power into Punnya?"

"Yeah why?" Ravena asked wondering what his idea was. Grim then stood behind her and placed his hands on the barrel of the cannon.

"Let's see how much he can handle." Grim began feeding his energy into the cannon causing it to turn from its usual pink to a blood red color.

The Leech staggered at the increase in power but it continued eating; the standstill held as Ravena and Grim force-fed their energy into it.

"It's not enough nya!" Ravena yelled.

"Doppelman add yours too…Doppelman?!"

"**Why not use this?" **The shadow returned to them with the dreamstone in hand.

"That's what we came here for, we can't leave without it!" Grim said.

"**But you'll die if you don't, even if I help it won't be enough!"** Doppelman said. **"I doubt us combined or 'Psyco-Saiko' can help!"**

While Grim chatted with his shadow Ravena was having a conversation herself.

"**You're going to have to use the stone DeeDee." **Felis said after a brief silence.

'I can't do that we came this far…I'll probably never see one again for a while.' Felidae said.

Felis remained silent before talking again. **"I don't understand your behavior around men, most of them are weak and inferior to us and are no better than cannon fodder…yet you won't leave this one to fight by himself and you're risking your life for another."**

'I don't see others as subordinates nya, and what's wrong with helping friends?' Felidae then began to plead. 'I know how you feel sometimes Felis, we are the same person…but now you need to put those feelings behind you and help!'

The other half let out a sigh, **"Fine, I'll help this one since he has earned more of my respect than others…but incase even this is not enough…"**

It was Felidae's turn to be silent using it to answer Felis's question. The Punnya Cannon grew more as Felis added her power to the mix.

"We got to keep this up nya!" Ravena said; she turned to Grim to see he had the stone in his hand. "What are you doing nya?"

"This thing is like a bottomless pit, if we don't take a chance we'll die." The rainbow colored stone began to sparkle and glow in Grim's hand as he placed it on Punnya. "Besides, you can always find another one if you're alive."

Ravena said nothing but didn't move to stop him (even if she could). Grim then broke the stone and made his wish. The Punnya's Cannon's beam turned white and soon enveloped the whole room.

The Leech was trapped and was caught in the colossal beam shrieking in pain as it soon evaporated to dust. After the room finished shaking the two opened their eyes and saw that there were no remains of the monster.

"That was some wish nya." Ravena said as she helped Grim up. Punnya returned to her manju form and Doppelman stood by them.

"I wanted just enough to completely destroy it, didn't think it would work out like that." Grim admitted. The Reaper looked at his hand that once held the dreamstone and sighed as he turned to Ravena.

"Sorry I couldn't think of anything else and we were running out of options." Grim apologized.

"Its fine, I was about to do the same but you beat me too it nya!" Ravena looked to the pedestal and then to Grim. "Nya, let's go back to Tokyo, I had enough adventure for today."

Grim nodded and they both walked back into the tunnels of Cheshire's Path.

* * *

**FFW**

* * *

Once they were back in the town Grim decided to apologize again only for Ravena to reassure him that it was fine and that she was ok.

"Still it is my fault that you lost it after all that planning." Grim said.

"One will turn up eventually nya, besides you saved us both from an early death so it's all right." Ravena said.

"Punnya!" Punnya agreed.

Grim sighed but decided to accept her reasoning as they walked around. They both found out that they have spent longer underground then they realized as dusk was settling in the sky. Ravena then turned to the reaper.

"I have to log out now but it was fun fighting with you nya!" Ravena smiled.

Grim smiled back and was about to say something until the catgirl did something that made him freeze. A blush was still on his face even after her lips left his cheek.

"We're even nya, I helped you and you helped me." Ravena said.

Grim could only nod as he still silent, Doppelman chose to stay in shadow form as to not ruin the moment between them. Ravena and Punnya soon finished their goodbyes and then took off to the air again leaving the two behind.

He brushed the cheek that she kissed and let his blush fade before walking away back to his house.

"**I don't see why you don't ask her out, you both have a lot in common." **Doppelman said.

"Not really; though doing something like that would be…troublesome." Grim said.

Doppelman sighed. **"You're just lazy in everything; even relationships, how many girls have to show interest in you before you pursue one?"**

"I rather not have to worry about you groping all the women I do end up meeting." Grim said.

"**And you know that's not happening."** Doppelman said.

"Exactly"

* * *

**That's the end of another oneshot everyone; a lot of difference between this and the first one huh though I'm switching up the kind of atmosphere I set in each one. I still have work to do with fluff and everything about it but I say I did a good job. The next couple has already been chosen so no votes this time or for a while because I have a surprise for all of you but you have to wait seven more days to see what it is.**

**Shadowlight0982-out**


	3. ColdFire-Shipping

**This is a late chapter and the Valentines one will be late as well because a lot of things have happened over that weekend where I had to get my mind in order. The updates are going to be slow for a while because I'm almost to the final exams and I need to focus as well as all the other fics that I have. Since February is FFW's birth month I will focus on it broadly for the time being. Wish me luck everyone and hopefull I'll get better time to update.**

**Reviews:**

**Mister Grim: Glad you enjoyed it.**

**BloodxForxMyxRose: Maybe a little off topic and all I have to say is be careful when cuddling with a dog :P. But thanks and hope the ending of this pleases you.**

**GeneralHyna: Ok thanks for the worry, I will say now if updating stops for at least a few months I may be injured or dead but don't jinx me.**

**Ravena Felidae: Guess you're just popular and lovable Rave.**

** Now let' go ahead and start the story; this is another Beta'd one so be sure to thank Ravena when you're done reading. All right…ON WITH THE SHOW!**

* * *

A hero's work is never done, but they are allowed to enjoy their downtime however way they want. One hero who takes that philosophy to its' fullest was none other than the burning juggernaut of Kurotsubasa: DB. When the young drummer wasn't off with his band or at work with his guild he had many ways of enjoying his downtime, in fact his favorite activity took him to one of the many bars in Tokyo City.

The large bartender gave the vampire a stern look as he stood with an elbow on the counter into DB's face. "Aren't you a bit young to drinking in bars like this?" The server asked.

"Aren't you a bit old to be intimidating pops?" DB pulled some munny from his pocket and slammed it on the counter. "Why don't you give me one of your strongest and keep the change for your pills while I'm still in a good mood."

The two continued their stare down ignoring all sound around them. The bartender looked at the munny and then DB…and proceeded to laugh wholeheartedly.

"Marty told me all about you kid!" The Bartender passed the vampire a drink.

"So you're Phil then, glad my fight didn't start so soon I wanted to at least be on my third drink before I start swinging at someone." DB took his drink and drank the contents. "You can keep the change by the way."

Phil laughed again and picked up the small bundle of munny. "Try not to wreck the place too badly; I still at least want a bar to run after you're done here." The bartender joked.

"So you've already heard?" DB drank again from his cup.

"I damn near sure all of the bars and clubs know about you by now; how many have you visited this time?" Phil asked.

"A good number of bars not to mention almost all of Tokyo's bars since I first settled here." DB then went to his second drink. "I still haven't found a good challenge from the bars I visited."

Phil silently chuckled and then heard the sound of the door opening; he then eyed the visitor who sat up to the counter as well. "What can I get you sweetheart?"

"Something light, I have a feeling that I won't be here long."

The young vampire's ears twitched when he heard the familiar voice next to him; he suddenly drank too fast and ended up inhaling his drink causing a brief coughing fit. DB looked to the woman next to him.

"Naenia what are you doing here?" DB asked.

"Would you believe me if I said I was looking for you?" Naenia said with a coy smile as her drink arrived.

"R-really, looking for me?" DB said in nervous disbelief but if one listened closely there was a slight hint of hope in his tone as well.

Naenia nodded as her drink arrived. "Yes, and since I was looking for my favorite alcoholic vampire I decided to check through the bars, imagine my surprise when you were in the first bar I looked."

"You have me bugged don't you?" DB began checking his clothing.

"No…have you forgotten I can see the future," Naenia calmly sipped her drink.

"Oh yeah…" DB said embarrassed for not remembering her powers. "So why were you looking for me?"

Naenia placed her cup on the counter. "So I hear you have a talent for bar fights," she said more like a statement than a question.

DB puffed out his chest as he drank his third glass. "Haven't met a bar challenge I couldn't handle!"

"Liar."

The one statement caused the vampire to fall out of his seat anime style and also caused the bartender to laugh hysterically. DB slowly got back to his seat and looked to the woman with sad eyes, "Well maybe there was a few times where I was over my head but my record has more wins than loses."

"Oh I believe that…what you lied about was having challenges you could handle." Naenia took another sip ignoring DB's look of depression. "But seriously, I am in need of your talents."

"Why, is there some guy giving you trouble?" DB asked.

"Nothing like that.." Naenia finished her drink and looked to DB playfully. "I just felt the need to go to the roughest bar in FFW and I thought it wouldn't be right if I didn't ask my favorite drinking buddy to come with me."

DB scratched the back of his head as he chuckled at her compliment. "What makes this bar so tough?"

"Oh you'll see; but it's your choice…you can stay here with the small fry or try your chances there." She said with the ultimatum making a small coy smile curl on her lips.

"Hmm beat up some random guys here or follow the hottest girl I know to what may be a fun but dangerous bar…" DB thought out loud oblivious to the small blush on Naenia's face. The vampire then smiled, "Sure why not lead the way!"

Naenia lets the blush fade, blaming the alcohol for her flushed look, and turns to DB. "All right but I have to warn you…this has some serious fighters, are you sure you're up for it?"

"Of course, especially since it's to help you out." DB smiled, "You don't have to tell me what you're looking for but I'll still help you Naenia."

"Why would I need help, this is just a casual trip." Naenia said.

"If it was casual you wouldn't need my help; but that doesn't matter lead the way Ice Queen." DB said as he gestured to the door with a mock bow.

Naenia chuckled as she got out of her seat. "A bit daring aren't you?"

"Egh?" DB said in confusion.

"Still trying to flirt with someone a few years your senior; I see you have a thing for mature women." Naenia teased as she rubbed DB's chin with her closed fan. She then stopped and walked to the door leaving the red-faced teen frozen and wordless.

"She's a little too much for you to handle don't you think kid?" Phil jokingly said. Before DB could retort he found himself being led out of the bar by his tie; Phil let out another laugh as he cleaned the cups they left.

'That boy's one of the lucky ones; reminds me of my wife back in the old days.' Phil thought.

* * *

**FFW**

* * *

DB wondered how they were going to get to the place Naenia talked about. After the Tournament incident teleportation around FFW was only limited now to items or places like the Reception Center and unless you live in a bigger city than Tokyo City you didn't own a vehicle.

"How are we going to get to the bar Naenia; the Center?" DB asked.

"Oh no I have a better way than that." Naenia said opening and closing her fan. "Just try and keep to yourself until we get there ok."

"Keep to myself, are you ashamed of me?" DB asked in a mocked hurt tone.

"Of course not Sugar, it's the opposite, but in my line of work you meet several people who anger easily and you're guild is a wanted target." Naenia informed him.

"It's mostly Shads that's the target but we all haven't met any danger we can't handle." DB said. "If it helps any bit I'll be on my best behavior." He finished with a bow.

Naenia laughed. "I'm sure you will…it looks like we've arrived."

DB saw that they had stopped moving and when he looked at the store his jaw fell open in disbelief. Like many stores in Tokyo City it looked like that of an old Japanese building but this one had a chimney that towered over even some of the few skyscrapers the city had. DB slowly turned to Naenia.

"Is that what I think it is?" He pointed to the chimney.

"Teleportation has been limited and the Reception Center doesn't have a portal to this location." Naenia explained. "You have to get there by other means as it is out of orbit."

"Out of orbit…it's a galactic bar?!" DB said wide-eyed; he was thinking not only was he spending time with Naenia but they were also going off world, an experience he had never had in his whole time playing FFW.

"I said the roughest bar in FFW; but I never said it was on this planet." Naenia winked. "Since neither of us has a ship to go to and fro I'm calling in a favor from an old friend."

"And we're going to…" DB muttered still shocked by the chimney.

"Maybe if we're lucky."

"Lucky?!" DB echoed loudly only to see Naenia was already walking inside, the vampire sighed but followed her into the strange shop.

They saw that there were two clerks working a counter and a few customer observing the merchandise; DB was curious about it all but followed Naenia as she ignored everything and walked past the counter through a curtain that led to the back of the store. DB let out a breath and then followed surprised by the fact the clerks did nothing.

"That's weird shouldn't clerks usually stop customers from heading to the back?" DB asked.

"Customers yes but what we need isn't something we can find in the front of this store, you noticed what they sell right?" Naenia asked.

"Fireworks right?" DB asked.

"Partly, fireworks just bring customers to the door; we have flashes, light-bombs, explosives, smokescreens, and all other toys."

DB stood still as a blade was now being held to his neck, the owner standing behind him. "Now pray tell who are you and what are you doing back here in my store?"

DB wanted to say something but Naenia gave him a look to stay silent for now. The ice user moved to get a better look at the knife holder, "So I'm not welcome here anymore, you wound me so Kukaku."

"Of course you're welcome here but I'm talking about this boy here who looks like he doesn't have a clue." DB heard Kukaku say but the knife did not move an inch from his jugular. "So Naenia what do you need and does it involve this boy here?"

"It does involve him but not in the way you think, could you please remove the knife please?" Naenia said.

DB heard a sarcastic scoff but eventually the knife was removed, he backed up rubbing his neck feeling the small cut on the skin as he stared at the owner. "Was the knife necessary?"

"What better way to have a serious mood than knives to the neck, plus I don't really know you so I can't tell if you're trustworthy." Kukaku said as she sheathed her knife. **(AN I will save time and say she looks like Kukaku from Bleach)**

"You know you won't meet a good guy if you keep holding knives to people's necks." Naenia joked. "You scare away way too many potential clients and maybe boyfriends too."

"I don't come online for pleasure I do it for business." Kukaku retorted.

"Really haven't you been to the Lemon District more than a few times?"

"How would you know unless you've also been there?"

"Touche" replied Naenia as she covered the lower half of her face with her fan

Kukaku then leaned against one of the walls in the room. "Look while I would like to trade banters with you some more Naenia you're either here for a drink or a favor…and from your blushing friend I assume it's the latter."

Naenia then noticed that DB's face was a bit pink. "Is something wrong or are you just surprised from what you heard?" She smirked as she snapped her fan shut.

His blush seemed to glow, "No it's nothing!" DB said trying to save some of his composure. "So we need a way to get off-world to…"

"To Rough Valley if you believe it." Naenia said.

"Rough Valley, little extravagant for a first date sure this guy can handle it?" Kukaku pointed to DB.

"Hey haven't you watched the tournament I held my own pretty well!" DB shouted back.

"Taking out a few small fries and having your opponent throw the match for you aren't really impressive and before you say anything Naenia it was painfully obvious for those who know you." Kukaku said as DB turned his head into the shadows in depression.

Naenia patted DB's back hoping to break him out of his minor depression. "I would appreciate it if you didn't insult my friends, now we really do need transportation."

"Fine I'll get everything ready." Kukaku then left the room. When she was gone a thought went through DB's head and he turned to Naenia.

"Is she really going to shoot us out towards the place with the chimney?" DB asked.

"Of course not, that would be barbaric."

DB then face faulted crashing into the ground hearing the answer; he then quickly rose back to his feet.

"Her name is Kukaku, she sells fireworks, and she has a large chimney/cannon built into her shop; how is she going to help us if traveling to Rough Valley does not involve explosives?!"

"Because I dabble in other things besides fireworks."

DB then saw that Kukaku had returned carrying what looks like a card from a deck. The merchant handed Naenia the card but still kept her eyes on DB.

"As for the chimney, it for hypes kid it goes with the theme." Kukaku smirked. "You didn't think I would actually shoot you out of a cannon did ya?"

"Well that was my impression." DB answered.

"What I am doing may be a bit drastic but it doesn't involve injuring me and you by blasting off into deep space, I would never put you at risk if I knew I would have to do that." Naenia said as she examined the card.

"Really?" DB said as he was moved by her words.

Kukaku was smiling at the two crossing her arms in the process. "Well I didn't think I would see you act this way Naenia."

"See me act what way?" The ice user asked.

"While it's true you don't believe in more harm than necessary you actually shown true concern for this kid, if I didn't know any better I say you two were an item." Kukaku gave them a sly look. "Is that it?"

DB's arms fluttered around as he thoughts flew through his mind at lightspeed. "No we're n-not together…I mean I wish we are but…not it's…"

"So you don't have an interest in her?" Kukaku asked as she got closer to the vampire.

"Um, I…" DB stuttered as he backed away.

"Or maybe you just have interest in older women." Her grin displayed proudly on her face as she saw how flustered the vampire was.

"We should get out of your hair Kukaku as you have customers." Naenia interrupted and pulled DB back from Kukaku. "Do the Character Card work the same as before?"

"Sure it does, the move should get you there and back if you're careful." Kukaku said. "You two try not to have too much fun."

DB was silent as his mind was still overloaded from earlier but managed to give her a small nod. Naenia followed her instructions and crushed the card in her hand, instead of folding or crumpling the card turned to dust that surrounded Naenia's form.

Kukaku watched as Naenia put two fingers on her forehead and she and DB then vanished completely.

"And she's protective of him too" Kukaku commented after Naenia and DB disappeared using Instant Transmission. "Maybe he's the one to help you forget Naenia, after all you need to try and move on."

* * *

**FFW**

* * *

In a second the two players found themselves in the dictionary example of a bad neighborhood. DB took a second to refocus himself after suddenly teleporting and followed Naenia while looking at the dirty streets and broken buildings, he turned to the sky and instead of a smog filled sky he saw various planets and stars.

"We are off-world…. but how?" DB asked.

"Have you never used a Character Card DB?" Naenia asked.

"No; I've seen a few though but I thought they were just for collecting." DB answered. "So the card Kukaku gave you was…"

"Son Goku's Instant Transmission" Naenia repeated the name of the card. "Character Cards gives players the ability to use the power printed on the card they have."

"Sounds like a mock of Bella's power," The two then jumped sideways to avoid being hit by a random man flying and skipping upon the filthy streets.

Naenia gave DB a knowing smirk. "Looks like we're here."

The two were outside of a large club/bar and to DB it didn't look much different from places he had been…except for the local. Creatures and Players who all looked straight out of a science fiction novel littered the bar from off duty spacemen to extraterrestrial dancer girls. In front of the building was a bouncer with four gold eyes and blood red skin with the signature Tetramen four arms.

"That's Brazo; he's the bouncer an as you saw he is very good at his job." Naenia said turning from the bouncer to the man who flew by.

"He's definitely has the muscle part of the job down." DB admitted. "But I'm proof you don't need bulging muscles to be tough, so do we just charge through him?" He asked as he changed to battle mode.

"No then you'll really have to fight your way inside." Naenia said. "I'll get us inside."

"Not that I doubt your connections but how, I don't think we're on the VIP list." DB said.

"One does not need to be on a list to be VIP." Naenia winked and walked to the bouncer.

Brazo dusted the dirt off his hands after throwing another delinquent away from the door. That was the fifth time today that he had to deal with another headstrong kid who thought he was tough enough to force his way into Rough Valley; had he just walked calmly to the Tetraman he would had let him in to the inevitable beating that awaited him but the kid made the mistake of insulting him and forcing past him causing him to do his second favorite part of the job.

A set of eyes focused on the woman that was walking to him with a younger man behind her. Brazo had a feeling he had seen the woman before but it wasn't good enough to let her just walk in.

"Hold on love birds, what brings you to this part of the galaxy?" Brazo asked.

"Why wouldn't we come check out the best club in the galaxy?" Naenia then took DB's hand and brought him closer. "You see I have the next champion of the Rough Edge Challenge."

'Rough Edge Challenge?' DB thought as he looked at Naenia. The ice user sent him a silent look that told him to just go with it.

"This guy, in the Rough Edge?" Brazo leaned down into DB's face. "Tell me boy, how tough do you think you are?"

If there was one language that was universal to DB it was bar-talk and the vampire was very fluent in the language. DB gave him the Hellsing smile, "Tough enough to take down a hundred of you hammered and a thousand of you sober…on my lowest day."

"Too bad for you I'm having a pretty good day; so let me in so I can enjoy the best drinks in the Valley with the prettiest girl on the planet…" This time it was DB who pulled Naenia closer curling his arm around her waist. "…before we both find out how tough I am right now."

In the midst of her embarrassment from his actions Naenia was now nervous, her plan was to slowly convince the bouncer to let them though hoping DB would play the role of the eager challenger…she didn't count on him playing the part too well. Instead of hearing screams of pain she then only heard laughter.

"Ahahahahaha! It's about time someone knew how to speak the lingual." Brazo shook the vampire's hand. "You're all right kid; you and your girlfriend enjoy the Rough Valley, I'll be rooting for yah."

"No problem, if I mention you will I get a free drink?" DB shook the alien's hand back.

"Tell them you're Brazo's choice and the first round should be free; now get in there before you miss any more action." The bouncer promised.

DB nodded and walked with Naenia into the bar smiling. "How was that?"

"Impressive" Naenia admitted. "That was risky but impressive."

"Hey like he said, just have to know how to speak the lingual." DB said.

"Well then you should feel right at home here," chuckled Naenia. "But before we go any further could you answer something for me?"

"Fire away."

"How much longer are you going to keep your arm on my waist?"

DB look confused briefly until he looked down to see his arm still around Naenia's waist. The boy blushed red instantly as he quickly removed his arm and bowed down several times in apology much to Naenia's amusement.

* * *

**FFW**

* * *

The two made it to one of the many counters as DB took in the sights. Music pulsed from various speakers around the building as women of all shape and sizes provided drinks or entertainment. Several bar-goers were playfully chatting or having small fights such as arm wrestling. DB noticed a small ring was raised from the floor in the center of the building.

"Is that for the Rough Edge challenge?" DB asked. "It looks a bit small."

"Looks can be deceiving." Naenia ordered a drink and was about to pay until she remembered their first round was free because of Brazo.

DB told the bartender about Brazo and the man smirked as he placed a large mug in front of the vampire; DB noticed it had a neon blue glow to it. "Can I ask why my drink is glowing?"

"It's something to help with the challenge; don't worry Earthy it's not radioactive it's just to help you get an extra kick." The bartender smirked.

DB shrugged and then took a drink of the glowing liquid, seeing as it tasted all right despite its look he turned to Naenia.

"So who is the one you have to talk too?" DB asked.

"Rough Edge,Bane Dialgo…" Naenia took another drink. "He has some information that I need to know."

"Is it about what you are really searching for? What we talked about at the Eclipse Tournament?" DB asked.

Naenia only nodded her head as she finished her drink. DB grip on his mug tightened but he understood why she was silent. "So what's the plan, how do I draw this guy out?"

"You have to interest him into fighting, and the only way to do that is with a Rough Edge challenge." Naenia said no to the refill as she held her mug in her hand.

"And how do I do that?" DB asked again.

Naenia smiled and chose to be cryptic. "Have you ever seen a prison riot?"

"Only in movies wh-?" DB suddenly was cut off when he quickly had to duck to avoid the mug Naenia suddenly threw his direction. The alien behind DB wasn't as lucky as the mug shattered on his face knocking him back. As the monster growled and glared in their direction, Naenia simply smiled innocently and jerked a thumb at DB.

'Hold up, did she just…' DB didn't have time to finish his thoughts as he was suddenly tackled to the ground.

Naenia calmly ordered another drink ignoring the action going on behind her. 'How long will you be able to resist Bane?' she thought glancing around.

On the floor DB used his legs to kick the alien back causing him to hit another clubber who chose to get violent. As the fighters bumped into more people the riot began to increase and they all began crowding around the ring with many people placing bets.

DB's eyes were glowing red as he punched through two guys and avoided a jab that he returned. Inwardly he wondered how he got this way.

'Even I'm not this violent, and I only took one drink of that…' The vampire then noticed how many of the fighters were drinking or have been drinking the neon liquid. 'Is the drink making me this angry?' He was knocked out of his thoughts by a punch to the face.

DB felt his nose and found it wasn't broken but the rage was still there. "Now you're a dead man!" He grabbed the assailant and threw him over head onto a few fighters knocking them out.

In a chair on the second floor, a man was watching the fight increase in number. He drunk down the neon liquid like it was water and licked his lips as he watched the fight.

'Look at them; sometimes I think my Psycho Drive was wasted as a simple drink.' He said with a thick Hispanic accent. 'Of course nothing else feeds adrenaline and anger more than this miracle of science.'

Several men then flew outward and the watcher noticed the cause was none other than DB. He continued watching as the vampire tore through the crowd with little effort.

"It seems I have found a new challenger ladies." The man dismissed the two scantily clad women as he stood up to join the fun.

**(Play: You're going down by Sick Puppies)**

As DB was about to hit another fighter a large hand stopped his own. All fighting and enjoyment stopped as they all saw who held on to the vampire.

The man had a white Italian suit but his muscles could easily be seen along with a black wrestler's tank top underneath the fine jacket. He had combed back silk black hair and tan skin that added to his features along with his green eyes that held enjoyment.

"Well I see you are the one tearing through much of the competition, how many drinks have you had?"

"Only one, but it will be my last." DB's eyes faded back to their normal blue. Naenia walked over past the fallen and stun men to the two.

"So this violence is enough to get you down here Bane." Naenia said.

"Ah that's a voice that I haven't heard in a while; haven't I told you the answer is still no I don't deal with women." Bane said.

"But you deal with fighting right?" DB asked.

"Exactly; I can't really give out information to women who can't fight for it and while your reputation exceeds you Naenia…you are no match for me." Bane said.

"That is true; but that's why I have help." Naenia said and DB nodded.

"You brought you're boyfriend out here to try and reason with me?" Bane said amused.

"No she brought me here to deal with your steroid ass." DB said. "Now tell her what she wants to know or you'll need more than designer suits to look handsome after I'm done with you."

Bane kept his amused smirk. "Look who has some cojones; have you ever heard of the Rough Edge Challenge?"

"Not until today, must not be important if I have to travel offworld to hear about it." DB retorted.

"That just shows you I like to keep some part of my life private; Admins barely check offworld you know, but maybe everyone is silent out of fear." The veins in his arms pulsed as he suddenly grabbed threw DB into the ring.

DB rose to his feet as he saw Bane remove the suit showing his muscle body.

"I'll humor you boy with the challenge; all you have to do is push me out of the ring Sumo style." Bane said as he flexed his muscles.

"Are you sure, looks like those muscles are for show?" DB then got ready. "Think you can beat me with those Anchor Arms of yours?"

"Let's see how far you can push me." Bane got into a ready position as well.

Naenia watched with the other bar patrons as they saw the two place hands on each other's shoulders. 'DB I'm sorry for dragging you into this; the least I can do is place my faith in you.'

Soon at a silent signal they began to push against each other trying to force the other on backwards. DB made some headway as he was slowly pushing Bane back towards the edge of the ring.

'So the boy is stronger than I thought.' Bane said as he continued smiling. 'I guess I can stop humoring him.' The man's vein's popped out as his muscles slowly grew.

**Bulk-Up!**

DB noticed it was getting harder and harder to push Bane back until he could no longer push forward. Bane was smirking as the balls of his feet were at the edge of the ring just an inch from being pushed off.

"What's the matter, just one good push and I'm out surely you have one good push in you." Ban mocked him.

"Don't call me Shirley." DB growled.

Bane yawned at the horrible joke. "Well then I'll have to show you how to push."

Bane took a step and DB found himself sliding backwards as he tried to force his feet into the ground. The vampire growled as no matter what he did he was still sliding back.

'What's going on, this guy was a pushover, literally, for most of this…wait a minute?' DB saw his muscles grow again as he looked to Bane. "Bane, Bane why didn't I see it before?"

"So you finally figured it out." Bane smirked. "That's right, and since my name pretty much gives away my power." His muscles grew to inhuman proportions and DB found himself sliding more and more quickly until he was able to stop himself.

"The power to increase my bulk and strength at will, it does help that I got a little Toguro blood in me as well." Bane gripped DB's shoulder's harder causing him to hiss in pain.

"What's it going to be, break your bones or lose, both ways you lose and the lovely senorita goes home unsatisfied." Bane said. "You know I just thought of something."

"And what's that?" DB groaned out.

"Maybe I will be able to tell Naenia what she wants to know even if you lose…for the right price."

It was the way he said price that made the vampire almost lose control as he felt new rage take over. Bane felt intense heat around his hands as a fiery aura covered DB's body. Instead of sliding back out the ring DB began to push back against the massive man.

"The hell, how is pushing me back?" Bane tried to push more ignoring the searing heat of the pains at it ate away at his palms.

DB's eyes were red as he pushed back more and more with each step. "You think I'm going to let you off easy after you said that, be lucky you need to be conscious after this!"

"After what?!" Bane asked. His question was answered as he couldn't feel the ring underneath his feet. DB had lifted him up using just brute strength holding him up.

"After your flight!" DB then threw him out the ring. Bane broke through the floor making a crater as his large bulk actually added to the pain. Before the fall to his head could knock him out DB grabbed him by his hair.

"Don't K.O. on me yet, we have something you need to answer." DB hissed with malice. The vampire saw Naenia walk over and pulled something out, though he couldn't see it he knew it was a picture of some kind.

"Do you know who these two are?" Naenia asked.

"N-never seen them in my life."

"But has someone bragged about them, about killing them. A man with a particular type of mask?" Naenia asked coldly with ice making a few senbon in her hand aimed to Bane's neck. "A man in a black cloak and a Visored mask isn't someone you forget."

DB never saw this side of Naenia before as she was as cold as the ice she had in her hand. He then noticed that Bane was talking.

"Wait, a Visored you say…last I heard of a man like that…" Bane began.

"Keep talking" Naenia politely insisted with her weapon.

"Bastion…Hollow Bastion; last I heard he disappeared around Hollow Bastion." Bane finished.

"How long ago was that?"

"A month ago, probably left that horrid area by now."

Naenia dissolved her senbon and stood to her feet. As she walked away DB let go of Bane and let him slip into unconsciousness as he followed Naenia out of the bar.

* * *

**FFW**

* * *

DB massaged his sore joints as the two walked out the Rough Valley. "Maybe I should start increasing my exercises; the behemoth almost broke my collarbone."

"He is named Bane for a reason." Naenia said. "DB why did you decide to still help me even if you knew I was going to put you in a dangerous situation and maybe get you killed?"

"You wouldn't have asked me for help if you knew I couldn't take it." DB said. "And I like spending time with you and helping you out."

The two walked in silence for a bit choosing to watch the alien horizon before DB turned to the bounty huntress. "Naenia, that picture you showed Bane, who are they?"

Naenia was silent and DB expected her not to answer, but what she did next surprised him. The woman pulled out the photo letting the vampire see that it was of two young twin boys.

"One is Tieria and the other is Regene; they are my little brothers." Naenia said.

DB looked astonished at the information and the picture. "Really, like your family?"

"No they are my ingame family, but they are really close to me. One day a man defeated me and killed them right in front of me." She said sadly.

DB stayed silent holding back the questions he had. It was known that some children played FFW but it was highly discouraged as their minds possibly could not handle the stress that came with the game…one of which was ingame death.

"Have they ever logged back on?"

Naenia shook her head. "No; I have a feeling after that day their family had them disconnected for good and banned them from FFW."

DB knew now why her mission was important to her, whoever did this took the one family Naenia had in this world and is still out there somewhere. "Naenia…"

"Save it, you want to help me but you can't." Naenia tried to dissuade him. "This is my own vendetta."

"But you can't do this on your own!"

"This is only one of many leads; I have been doing fine for a while now."

DB then blocked Naenia's path, his eyes staring right into hers. "I want to help; now that I know I can't in all good conscious let you do this on your own."

"What about your responsibility to Kurotsubasa; your debt to Shadow?" Naenia asked. "You want to break your word to help me on my quest."

"I'm sure the others would understand and letting a guy like this run free is unforgivable. This isn't only for your brothers right, but for any other child…Naenia I-Mmph!"

The vampire was cut off by Naenia's lips meeting his own, his eyes popping wide. The ice user broke the kiss and smiled at DB who blinked a few times as she lay her head on his shoulder.

"I'm glad that you feel this way, but I can't let you drop everything to help me. As much as you want to, I can't let you come with me."

"Because you've seen the future?" DB asked finding his voice as the woman lifted her head.

Naenia shook her head. "No, roads like these always lead to dark and cruel places. If you came with me you wouldn't be the happy, smiling, alcoholic vampire I know and love." Before the blushing boy could say anything Naenia kissed him again and then began to lead him off by his tie once more.

"Come on Fire Boy, we still have more sites to see before we head back." Naenia smiled.

DB didn't argue as he smiled too as the two went off to enjoy their time offworld.

* * *

** That's the end of another pairing chapter and the most known and popular pairing so far. I can already tell many of you all would vote for this to be done again when the option comes up but that isn't for a while. Before anyone votes on the next couple the Valentine's Day filler has to be put up so wait for that.**

**-Shadowlight0982 out.**


	4. Past-Shipping

** Welcome back everyone and here is the next chapter, I bet a few of you are wondering why this pairing was picked with no votes but the reason is because of a special occasion today. It's special because as you read this chapter also knows that it's BloodxForxMyxRose's birthday today! This is my small present as this is really all I can do so I hope you enjoy it Rose.**

**Reviews:**

**Ravena Felidae: It's the only one really anyone has any problem with, I also think any competition Naenia can just waste away.**

**BloodxForxMyxRose: Yep but I don't know how many will be in these stories. Happy Birthday!**

** Now…ON WITH THE SHOW!**

* * *

**(Beta'd by Ravena Felidae)**

* * *

Shadow wiped the sweat off his brow with a nearby rag as he looked over his finished masterpiece. While he didn't high of some of his skills as opposed to others such as what he used in battle but sometimes he was glad he puts some points into things like tracking and cooking. The scythe user wrapped his bundle and placed it in the fridge just as Bella walked into the kitchen.

"Hey Shads I was wondering if my men and I could…" Bella stopped her question seeing the boy had finished placing something in the fridge. "What was that?"

"Something you shouldn't worry about Bella." Shadow said as he turned around. He went over to the sink to wash his hands.

"Oh really, is it a special surprise for someone?" Bella asked with a mischievous grin.

"Drop it Bella, now what do you want?" Shadow said again.

"I was wondering if me and my men could borrow the K-Van remains?" Bella asked.

"What would you all want with that wreckage; besides it's yours and Rave's fault it's wreckage in the first place so go ahead." Shadow said as he began to dry his hands off. As if on cue, a loud sneeze and small explosion could be heard from the other side of the guild.

"_WE JUST LOST A TABLE! MY BAD-NYA!" _said cat-girl's voice could be heard.

"GESUNDHEIT!" yelled Shadow and Bella at the same time.

"_THANK YOU!"_

"How many times are you going to be sour about that?" Bella asked with a frown as returned to the subject at hand.

"Until you either pay me the 7000 munny for a replacement or fix the wreck yourself." Shadow dully said.

"And that's exactly what I'm going to do." Bella said in a happy tone. "I got access to some special new guys that may be able to fix out ride problem." The toon girl flashed her omnitrix proudly.

"Oh really, can one of them grow a Munny Tree?" Shadow sarcastically asked.

"You know, those have been banned since the last time people tried that." Bella said raising her eyebrows.

"I know that but it wouldn't have hurt if you tried, we need to make some renovations to this place." Shadow went and secured something in the fridge before closing it again and going to his jacket that was hung on a rack in the room.

"Are you going out today?" Bella asked.

"Yeah, I'm doing something important today, besides no big time requests have come our way and I promised I would be free today." Shadow replied.

"Promise you would be free for whom? Are you off on a date you sly dog?" Bella smiled.

A light pink color found itself on Shadow's cheeks as he avoided contact with the toon girl. "Drop it Bella."

"Why, unless it's really a date, who is the lucky gal? Kitty? No wait, it has to be Illu!"

"Bella" Shadow said threateningly as she continued naming off names.

"Who could have possibly captured your heart my dear Dark Knight?" Bella asked curiously leaning in on Shadow's face.

"It's not a date Bella, now I am going to say this one last time drop it." Shadow said pushing the girl off and then looked at the time. The boy then let out an irritated sigh, "Dammit Hyna now I'm going to be late."

"Late for who?! You still haven't told me!" Before Bella could finish Shadow was already running out of the base.

"Drop it!" He yelled as the door closed leaving a smiling Bella.

An idea then passed through Bella's head. "This is too good to pass up; I need to see who Shads is meeting up with! I put my munny on…"

"Bella-chan what are you doing talking to yourself?"

The sentence stopped as soon as Bella turned to see Illu had walked down the stairs into the room. "I mean, you're talking to yourself more than usual."

"Illu, what are you doing here don't you have someone to meet with later!" Bella yelled waving her arms about.

Illu shook her head negatively. "No, unless you know something that I don't, the rest of Aetherion left this Server and I decided to stay behind. Did something happen?"

"No but if you're here then…that means Kitty is the one!"

"Kitty is the one what nya?"

Once again Bella facefaulted as a new person entered the room. Ravena and Punnya walked into the room and looked at the girl slumped on the floor. "Hy-nya, what are you doing on the ground, it's a bit early for cleaning nya."

"Punnya?" Punnya meowed as she flew off Ravena's shoulder to poke the fallen toon until she rose to her feet.

"I'm ok, but wait Rave what are you doing here?" Bella asked.

"I just came back from shopping underground, oh that reminds me." Ravena reached into her pocket and gave Illu a small brown bundle. "Here are those new seeds you wanted for the garden Illu-tan."

"Thanks Ravena-chan, I'll pay you back as soon as I can." Illu said.

"Don't mention it Nya, just remember you owe me one." Ravena replied with a smile.

"Wait, if you guys are here, then that means that Shads is" Bella rubbed her temples. "Ouch, this is confusing….my brain hurts….."

"What's confusing and what's this about Shadow-kyun?" Ravena looked to Bella and Illu for an explanation.

Illu shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know this is the first time I heard her say something about Shadow-kun, in fact she was talking about if I should be meeting someone." The hybrid explained to the nekomata. "Bella-chan what's going on?"

"You know what instead of telling you I will show you." Bella grabbed Illu and Ravena's arms and began to pull them out of the base.

"Bella you're pulling too hard!"

"Hy-nya what's going on?!"

Punnya could only watch as the toon girl forcefully dragged the females out the building. Before the neko followed after them she stopped and flew upstairs before reappearing down with a sleeping Mukurowl tied in her tail as she made it out the door.

* * *

**FFW**

* * *

"Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have trusted his ass with being on time." Rose grumbled as she glared off into no specific direction. Her partner Mazareth was curled up next to her feeling the small amount of rage his owner was giving off.

"Let's pick up the pieces and start over; I promise to do all the old things we used to do." Rose parroted in a high pitched mocking voice before using her normal tone. "Please, I bet he just made all that up on the spot."

Mazareth stood up and tried to calm Rose down but what a tiger could do to help was limited at this time.

"Don't even try Mazareth; that bastard was talking about getting a second chance but right now he isn't doing a good job of it!" Rose grumbled.

The tiger tried to get her attention by nudging her with his nose but he knew she was on a role now when it comes to ranting. Mazareth then noticed something approaching in the distance and tried again to calm down the redhead.

"I bet he must be laughing it up somewhere about this; he thinks he can just blow me off today of all days!"

Mazareth continued to try and call to Rose but quickly knew he was going nowhere.

"No Mazareth he's gone too far! Next time I see him I'm breaking off the edge of his scythe and shoving it right up his-"

"Wow I don't even want to know what would happen if I was a few hours late instead of a few minutes." Shadow said sending the girl high into the air in fright.

Rose looked down at Shadow's smirking face as she used the wind to slowly make her descent back into the ground. "That isn't funny, what the hell took you so long anyway?!" She asked trying to hide any embarrassment she still had left on her face.

"I had to make sure something was perfect and I was held up when I tried to leave." Shadow said. "Well I'm here, aren't I?"

The redheaded bounty huntress continued to glare at Shadow before she sighed. "Fine, but remember what you promised, anything I wanted to do today it's all about me."

"Of course, within reason right?" Shadow asked.

"We'll see by the time the day is over." Rose said as she walked off.

Shadow sighed as he walked with Mazareth. "She's going to work me to the ground before the day is over right Mazareth."

The tiger grumbled a small reply and then continued the walk towards Rose.

"Good, I'm glad that I'm not the only one thinking the same thing." Shadow said.

High in the air above the three were Bella, Ravena, and Illu as they watched the interaction below.

"Well who would have thunk, Shads went out and planned a day long date with Rose," Bella said in surprise.

"I don't know Bella, maybe it could be something else, I mean Shadow and Rose could be planning to go on a hunt together." Illu suggested.

"I'm with Illu-tan, I'm sure Shadow wouldn't have the courage to ask a girl out or Tsunde-Rose would try anything once they're alone." Ravena tried to reason with Bella. "I mean what made you think they were on a date nya?"

"The way Shads was all secretive and was worried that he would be late, not to mention he had something hidden in the fridge that he doesn't want anyone to see or touch." Bella listed off her reasons. "Plus I can read lips and heard Uzumaki talk about the whole day."

"A bounty can take up a whole day; Grimmy told me that once before nya." Ravena said.

"Punnya, nya nya~" The manju suggested although now she was transformed in her Winged Beast Form so that.

"Eh Punnya that can't be it!" Ravena exclaimed in shock.

"What did she say Kitty?" Bella asked for herself and Illu.

"It's nothing; Punnya just used a word she doesn't really know the meaning off!" Ravena tried to change the subject. "We should go after them before they get too far away!"

"Hey she's right! Forward Punnya! _Hi-YAH!_" Bella commanded as she was the one riding on Punnya's beast form. Punnya reared up like a horse before automatically shooting off like a bullet.

Ravena quickly flew after them leaving a confused Illu who brought up the rear.

"_Looks like it's going to be one of those days Muku-chan."_ Illu sighed telepathically as she flew in her hybrid form.

* * *

**FFW**

* * *

"I can't believe you brought me to a place like this, is this where you got those two outfits from last time?" Shadow asked as he stood in the store with Rose.

"Hey you promised anything I want today, now you aren't going back on your word are you?" Rose smirked knowing she had him where she wanted him.

Shadow sighed as she played that one card against him. One thing he prided himself on being was a man of his word and he couldn't break a promise all because he was uncomfortable. His promise had now got him standing in Chiu-chan's Cosplay looking at the many sets of clothes on the racks and mannequins.

'The things I do for…you know I'm not going to finish that thought.' Shadow thought as Rose went up with to the counter with a bag of munny.

"We'll be taking three pictures; I'm sure this is enough." Rose paid the clerk.

"Of course, come back later today as well." The woman said cheerfully.

"Why?" Rose asked confused.

"You think we would forget something about our best customer?" The clerk winked. "We'll have something special waiting for you after your date."

"This isn't a date Chiu!" Rose yelled and went to Shadow to drag him to the racks of clothes.

"We're taking the shots together, be ready to look the part!" Rose informed him as she began to pick out clothes.

"Do I even have a say over what we're wearing?" Shadow asked.

"Just be glad I don't plan on putting you in a tutu and making you say: 'I'm Miss Pwetty-Pants!'" Rose argued with him, "Now get ready to change!"

"Whoa hold on a second, let me get to the changing room first!"

"Well hurry up slowpoke!"

"All right, all right already! Jeez, it's almost like you wanted me to change in the middle of the store….." Shadow was already behind the door of the changing room so he couldn't see Rose's face matching her hair.

Chiu was giggling to herself as she watched what she would call a lover's spat. "My, you really are forward Rose."

"I told you it's not a date!" Rose repeated herself to the storeowner.

"Oh I know that but between you and me have you ever used your Rinnegan to grab a quick peek?" the blond whispered to the redhead with a perverted tone in her voice.

"What, no I never did that!" Rose yelled before she remembered to whisper.

"Oh really, well girl to girl I'll let you know..." Chiu's blue eye's then faded white to reveal the Byakugan with a sneaky grin. "He definitely doesn't disappoint~!"

"Don't you have a job to do?!" Rose yelled and then took the clothes she picked out and went to the women's changing room. _'Perve…..'_

Chiu continued to smile not seeing Shadow walk out of the room in his new clothing until he was already out to the counter. "Did something happen, I heard a bit of screaming." Shadow asked.

"Oh it's nothing, so you're that guy she used to talk about before right the one that trained her?" Chiu asked.

"Yeah, that's me though I regret what I did to her when I had to leave." Shadow sighed. "I'm just glad we can still get along after what happened at the tournament."

"You know most guys wouldn't try to rebuild a relationship they had with a girl if it went as sour as yours did, but then again, you aren't a normal person." Chiu patted Shadow's back knowingly before she left to get something from the back of the store.

Before Shadow could think about what she told her he heard the sound of the changing room door open and he saw Rose step out.

"Ugh I hate tying my hair up this way." Rose said as she adjusted the bows that held her usually long red hair into two long pigtails on each side of her head. "I see you dressed up nicely…Archer."

"Please don't go to that direction Rose…or do I have to call you Rin now." Shadow said as he played with the red coat he was now wearing.

"Just be lucky that we're only dressing up and we're taking pictures and not filming." Rose said as she prepared the camera that was in front of the large customizable wall of the store. "Now three costumes, three pictures got it."

"All right, you better hope Ravena doesn't catch wind of this because she still hasn't let the maid outfit thing go." Shadow told her.

"Like I care what Boobcat says." Rose said blushing while averting her eyes.

"You didn't pull out an Evangeline costume did you?" Shadow asked suspiciously.

"That's for me to know and you to find out."

As the two talked with each other no one saw the door open slightly and three blurs rush inside as if they were the wind. The figures leaped into racks of clothes and stayed hidden from view as they watched Shadow and Rose.

"A Cosplay Store, I expected more from you Rosie nya." Ravena whispered with a glint in her eyes.

"Why are we in chibi form again?" Illu asked looking down at her new tiny form.

"So we attract less attention, now be quiet and watch." Bella said as she readied a camera of her own as she saw the two taking pictures in the clothes Rose picked out.

"Bella you can't take pictures of them it's not right!" The two other girls had to place hands on Illu's mouth and hide further back as the outburst had attracted some attention around the store. Illu's voice was muffled behind their hands as Bella and Ravena peeked out to see if anyone found out about them.

"Illu-tan you have to be quiet, we still need to get to the bottom of this." Ravena said.

"I still don't see the point why Shads has to pick, if I had it my way you all would be together happy with no one being hurt." Bella said.

Illu removed the hands from her mouth taking in a large breath of air. "Relationships don't work like that Bella-chan, things like harems and Tenchu Solutions barely appear around FFW."

"Yep, a person can have only one other person just like in reality, as much as we can do anything we want in FFW that's something that still carries over." Ravena said.

"It's still stupid, oh they changed costumes."

As the Hyna said Rose and Shadow took a picture in their Fate/Stay Night clothes until they changed again. The next was almost similar in terms of appearance but had its own sets of differences. Bella continued to snap pictures as 'Ragna' and 'Rachel' got ready to take their own picture. Ravena and Illu peeked out as well watching what they were now thinking was a date.

"The way they are now maybe there is something going on just like Bella chan said." Illu said.

"Nya, many people have reasons for going to a Cosplay Store…just not many have reasons for taking pictures together." Ravena said dejectively.

"Excuse me…"

The girls all looked up to the smiling face of Chiu. "While I may not know what's going on but are you here to buy some clothes? Because if you aren't then I have to ask you to leave, this is a store and I can't just have anyone inside doing as they please."

"Uh we weren't up to anything suspicious ma'am." Illu tried to help mediate the situation.

"I believe that but I still can't have you all snooping around." Chiu lifted up the chibi girls by their collars and took them out of the store.

Rose returned from placing her last outfit back and saw the owner went to throw three 'children' out of the store. "Wonder what that was all about?"

"It's best if we leave it be." Shadow said. "All though I think the last pair of outfits was a bit much."

"Just leave it be." Rose said as she went to develop the pictures.

Shadow sighed but followed her as he knew she was making him pay for the pictures.

* * *

**FFW**

* * *

"How come we can't go eat?" Rose asked curiously.

"Because you know we can't agree on a place to eat at even after all these years and I have some reservations planned later so be patient." Shadow simply replied causing Rose to roll her eyes.

"Fine keep me in the dark then, that's all you ever do…." Rose muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Oh nothing" Rose stopped walking as she spotted something. "Now that's unusual."

Shadow and Mazareth stopped walking and followed her eyes and both sweatdropped at the sight of…

"A pink dojo." Shadow said as he boredly stared at the building. "I have now seen them all."

"This is going to stay buried into my head, let's just go." Rose said.

"Not so fast!"

The voice came from on top of the weirdly pink dojo as a figure jumped from the rafters and onto the ground before the three. The smoke cleared showing a man in a gi as pink as his building with black hair and black eyes.

"Surely two powerful warriors did not stumble on my door by mere coincidence." The man said.

"No we walked around until we saw your painfully ugly building." Rose said. Meanwhile the man felt a rhetorical arrow pierce his chest with the words painfully ugly on it.

"Yep, the monstrosity was so bad we had to stop and look." Shadow added. Cue another arrow into the stranger's chest with the words monstrosity on it.

"Hey hey hey, who are you to mock a man's pride and joy such as his dojo?!" The man yelled. "Do you have any clue who I am, do you?!"

"No not really, I pay attention to all the big names in town." Shadow replied with a blunt tone.

"And I honestly do not give a damn." Rose also bluntly added to his statement.

Those answers caused the man to feel two more arrows pierce his chest before he shook his head and glared at the two. "How do you not know who I am, I am one of the strongest fighters in this Server! I even competed in the Silver Cup Tournament weeks ago!"

There was a brief silence in the air before Rose turned to Shadow. "Hey Shadow what's the Silver Cup, sounds weak." Rose said causing the man to facefault.

"Think of it as a minor league tournament for fighters those who aren't strong enough to earn the title as 'Fists' in their styles of fighting." Shadow explained. "It's also the tournament no one watched because of how the Eclipse Tournament came out."

"Oh right." Rose said.

"Such horrid children you two are!" The man rose back to his fight. "I'll have you know I won that 'minor league' and was able to challenge a 'Fist' in battle!"

"Great how long did you last?" Rose asked.

The man's voice toned down considerably and he began pressing his fingers together. "Five…"

"Hours?"

"Minutes?"

"Now that was uncalled for."

"I bet it's true."

Hearing them bicker back and forth about his time seemed to embarrass the man even more. He let out a breath and with it came the answer.

"Seconds."

There was a long silence as the man closed his eyes and waited for the ridicule that he knew would come because of that answer. However, after a few minutes of silence he opened his eyes and saw that they were just walking away.

"Hey I know the time isn't much but how can you just walk away from someone like that?!"

"Look Nameless-guy-obviously-used-as-cannon-fodder, just go back into your pink playhouse and we'll pretend we never met you." Rose said. Shadow stayed silent as he walked with her and Mazareth.

"Now that insult I can't take!" The man held his hands together and began charging up what could only be a Hadoken. "For your rude and arrogant behavior I have to teach you a lesson, the job of a sensei is to provide discipline!"

"You want this guy Rose?" Shadow asked as he charged up.

"I'm happy to share this one." Rose's Rinnegan activated.

"Before I blow you away know that my name is…!"

**Almighty Push!**

**Gravity Wave!**

The two blasts of gravity sent the nameless stranger backwards through the doors of his own dojo. As the crash caused many passersbys to stop and see what was going on Shadow and Rose continued walking away.

* * *

**FFW**

* * *

"I see you still kept up training your Rinnegan." Shadow said.

"What's the point of having it if I don't try to perfect it? I want to prove you don't need paths to master the Rinnegan." Rose said.

"True, the original Sage of Six Paths didn't have extra bodies though not much is known about him." Shadow said. "At least you aren't slacking off training in any way."

"Of course not, the only reason I lost in our battle is because of that crazy tactic you tried. I mean who let's themselves get dragged to a gravity well?" Rose seriously asked. "Seriously what made you think that it was a good idea?"

"It was the only thing I had in mind; I didn't have anything big enough to stop you." Shadow said.

"I call bull" Rose said simply, Mazareth growled as he agreed.

Shadow laughed a bit before he got serious. "All right then I wanted to end your move before you caused too much damage to the stadium and to yourself, I can tell you barely have mastered any of your paths."

"That's a lie, I have a grasp of at least four of the paths and my Deva Path power is almost maxed!" Rose yelled out before she sighed. "But back to your explanation that sounds about right, you always did care about others before yourself."

"So you understood what I had to do?" Shadow asked.

"A small bit, I was barely conscious but I was able to see it, that power you keep hidden away." Rose looked at Shadow with the legendary eyes. "I can especially see it when my Rinnegan is active, if you had used power like that from the beginning you would have dominated our match."

"At what cost though?" Shadow rhetorically asked. "The first time you were near that power you were almost dead, and it probably didn't help your condition then."

Rose nodded. "Yeah, the doctors said whether it was from the boss monster we fought or an 'outside' influence the scar I have is permanent…back then I thought it was the cost of my arrogance."

"Rose" Shadow then realized they have long since left Tokyo City and were now out in the outskirts of the city. "It wasn't your fault it was mine; doesn't the teacher have to protect their students?"

"Only if the student couldn't defend themselves" Rose answered. "I was and I let the growth of my power blind me, after I activated and used the Rinnegan during our training I thought I could take any threat no one could stop me. But then…"

Mazareth curled around Rose trying to cheer her up and felt small success as she sat down on the grass and petted the tiger.

"A breath of reality can always be cruel, if I wasn't as I was I would had stopped you from getting that scar and I wouldn't have to leave." Shadow said. "I was wrapped up in my guilt that I didn't account for your feelings, what would happen if I left you alone after that."

Rose started laughing a bit catching Shadow by surprise. "In a way we're both alike huh, sometimes people like to compare me to you and I always get angry. However, on the inside, a part of me enjoys it, the feeling I get when I know I'm catching up to you."

"Catching up?" Shadow asked.

"After you left I was so hurt, I wanted to destroy you with every fiber of my being that was how I felt. But have you noticed how I never tried any cheap tricks, even when I controlled those two girls I knew you would find a way around it." Rose began to bare her soul. "I had one thing in my mind, before I destroy you, I would make you see me as an equal."

Shadow nodded. "A student's wish is to become as strong as their master and then finally surpass them."

"That's how the saying goes, even though you only helped steer me in the right direction I technically owe you for what I have been able to do up to now." Rose said.

"I take no credit for that." Shadow said and lied down on the grass surprising her. "Remember the first thing I said as your teacher, was that I would only show you the base…"

"And then I will make the style my own." Rose smiled in memory. "Yeah back in those times." The girl silently had Mazareth move to the side so that she could lie back on the grass as well.

Shadow then felt arms circle around his own left arm and a head lie on his shoulder. He blushed in embarrassment though he remembered she used to do this back in the old days as well. "Rose…"

"Stay like this." The words that she said caused Shadow to end whatever he was about to say. The red head tightened her grip on his arm as she seemed to move closer to him. "Stay like this sensei, like old times."

Shadow nodded his head and lied still seeing the girl close her eyes. They seemed to stay like that for a while, strolling through memory lane, but like all things it had to end eventually.

"Found them! Wow you two really went all out for your date didn't you?" Bella smirked when she saw them.

Rose's eyes snapped opened hearing new voices and blushed seeing Ravena, Illu, Punnya, and Mukurowl in the field with them.

"Nya, that's a little forward don't you think?" Ravena tried to tease but in her heart she was trying to understand what was going on and the feelings she was suddenly feeling.

"Sorry for disturbing you." Illu tried to apologize though she also had an envious look in her eyes.

"What the hell! What are all of you doing here?!" Rose yelled as she scrambled to her feet still blushing red.

As Shadow stood up he got an explanation or at least somewhat from a reliable source: Punnya. "I see so you three have been following us this whole time?"

"Punnya…" Punnya nodded sighing.

"Not the whole time, we lost you after we got kicked out of that store." Bella admitted.

Shadow blushed a bit. "I told you to drop it Bella, but what do you do, you somehow dragged Rave and Illu into your stalking game."

"I don't care who's fault it is I'm killing them right here and now!" Rose yelled as she charged forward only being held back by Shadow.

"We're sorry, we didn't mean to spy on your date but we were curious." Illu apologized sincerely.

"For the last freaking time this is not a date!" Rose yelled.

"Then why else would Shads go through the trouble of spending the day with you and making this?" Bella asked holding a wrapped bundle making Shadow choke on saliva.

"You even stole that, you're on a role today Hyna!" Shadow yelled. "This isn't a date; it's a gift for Rose's birthday." He explained.

"Birth…day?" The three girls repeated slowly tilting their heads with question marks appearing above them.

Rose growled a bit before screaming at the top of her lungs. "Yes you idiots, my birthday! I had Shadow promise me the whole day as a way to repay him for missing out on four of them and a way to repay his debt, what do you think was going on?!"

"The pictures" Ravena began.

"The playful talk" Bella added.

"Cuddling on the grass" Illu finished.

"We thought it was a date," all three honestly said.

That answer caused Rose to blush even more due to embarrassment and anger as Shadow sweatdropped hearing their answer.

'To be honest it could be confused as one.' Shadow thought considering what the girls said.

"That's it; I've had it with your Kurotsubasa girls already!" Rose had Mazareth get up as they walked off. "Forget about the rest of the day Shadow!"

"Hold on" Shadow called to her before she could leave.

Rose stopped and saw Shadow hand her the package that Bella had stolen.

"Since the day basically ended now you can go ahead and take it, happy birthday." Shadow said.

Rose unwrapped the cover and stood in place. It was a cake, a cake with white and red frosting that matched her hair, on the top of the cake was what looked like a red emerald. As she stared at it she saw Bella, Ravena, and Punnya's mouth watered so she held the cake away.

"And who says I'm sharing especially after what you all did." Rose smirked making the three waterfall tear.

"Speaking of which…" The chibi girls all felt themselves floating as Shadow soon dragged them off back to Tokyo City. "You can all have some cake, after you clean up the base from top to bottom with no powers."

As Rose continued smirking from hearing their cries of protest as she looked back down at the cake or more specifically at the icing emerald. 'He still remembered, so he was the one that sent me that emerald a few birthdays ago.'

Mazareth looked confused as he saw Rose open the carrier that held the cake and used her knife to cut a small piece. She then ate the piece of chocolate cake and her face was one of delight before she steeled her emotions again.

"Hmph…It's not terrible…." Rose wrapped the cake back up and put it away as she walked home. Mazareth shook his head and smiled knowingly as he simply trotted after her.

* * *

** Well that's the end of another chapter, for those of you wondering what the last picture was don't bother guessing because you all will be wrong. The Valentine's one will come up and is halfway written but it may go down as one of the latest fillers I have ever done. We'll just have to see, until next time…**

**-Shadowlight0982 out.**


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